I use Tab Mix Plus for multi-row tabs in Firefox. It's so important to how I browse that it's the main reason why I use Firefox. If it goes away, then I have no reason to use Firefox.
Lets be clear; they won't be supporting Tab Mix Plus. They will be providing an API that might allow something similar to be built by someone. This is a good thing but nothing is guaranteed.
It's not guaranteed, but they said they are hiring people to work with addon developers to update their addons. It seems very likely Tab Mix Plus would be on the top of that list, since it's already mentioned as an addon they want to work in the new model.
You can still tinker when building firefox from source.
I agree it's not as convenient as the default builds being open to such modding, but that's the point - the default builds should be safer because 99% of users don't tinker.
> So it's ok to make life harder for 1% so the 99% have it easier?
Generally speaking - yes.
Making a browser safer for 99% of people might be worth making the experience of 1% a little less flexible.
Unless you can find a solution that makes 100% of people happy, we will always have such tradeoffs. And so far, no browser has found such a solution for addons.
I was thinking the same thing. Tab Mix Plus sounds like one of those extensions that might not be doable under the new API... Which would explain why there's no chrome version.
Also the main reason why I use Firefox as well... This window has 20 tabs open :)
Doing research phases I can have 100 tabs open -- although only 30-40 actually fit on the screen at once (3 rows). Even if Tax Mix Plus was ever doable under the new API (and it won't be), somebody has to write it, test it, and maintain it. I'm not confident that will happen. The churn is just tossing out a lot of existing code and might never be replaced.
I just turned off automatic updates. It's sad that all good things do eventually come to an end.